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Older Spouses’ Cortisol Responses to Marital Conflict: Associations With Demand/Withdraw Communication Patterns

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We examined 31 older couples’ wife demand/husband withdraw communication patterns and cortisol responses to marital conflict. Regression analyses indicated that wife demand/husband withdraw sequences during conflict related to cortisol responses only for wives. Based on a mixed model that accounted for the interdependence of spouses’ perceptions of communication patterns and outcomes, older spouses who reported greater wife demand/husband withdraw patterns in their marriage had greater cortisol responses during a conflict discussion; actual demand-withdraw did not relate to cortisol responses in this model. Findings suggest that perceived communication patterns contribute to neuroendocrine responses to marital conflict, and implications for marriage and health research with older couples are discussed.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Work on this article was supported in part by NIH Grant P50 DE13749, NIA Program Project Grant AG16321, NIH General Clinical Research Center Grant M01-RR-0034, NIH Independent Scientist Award MH01467, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Core Grant CA-16058-09, and NIH Psychoneuroimmunology Training Grant MH18831.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Ohio, USA

    Kathi L. Heffner & Lina K. Himawan

  2. Department of Human Ecology, The University of Texas, Austin, USA

    Timothy J. Loving

  3. Department of Psychiatry, The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Ohio, USA

    Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser

  4. Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Ohio, USA

    Ronald Glaser

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Ohio, USA

    William B. Malarkey

  6. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, 209 Porter Hall, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Kathi L. Heffner

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  1. Kathi L. Heffner
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  2. Timothy J. Loving
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Correspondence to Kathi L. Heffner.

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Heffner, K.L., Loving, T.J., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. et al. Older Spouses’ Cortisol Responses to Marital Conflict: Associations With Demand/Withdraw Communication Patterns. J Behav Med 29, 317–325 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-006-9058-3

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